Trolltech, a Norwegian company that makes graphical user interface software, launched its initial public offering on the Oslo stock exchange on Wednesday. Trolltech describes itself as a "dual-licence" company because some of its code is available under either the GNU General Public Licence or under a closed-source licence. By going down the GPL line, a developer can use the code for free but must release its own source code under the GPL.

Co-founder Eirik Chambe-Eng said: "I think open source really is here to stay, and with the mechanisms we're seeing right now, I have a hard time seeing any company being successful delivering any kind of software infrastructure without being open source."

David Meyer reported for ZDNet UK in London. Click here for the full story.